


Summer Dream

by sedna_mode



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Flirting, Good natured teasing, Lifeguard Allura (Voltron), POV Lance (Voltron), Surfer Lance (Voltron), Voltron Rarepair Exchange, beach au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 22:05:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11449992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sedna_mode/pseuds/sedna_mode
Summary: Summer is Lance's favourite season. Lion Beach fills up with people, the atmosphere is great. It’s bright and hot out, the ocean is blue, he gets to spend all day outside working on his tan, and also teaching people how to surf.Oh and let's not forget the summer lifeguards.





	Summer Dream

**Author's Note:**

  * For [noir_luna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/noir_luna/gifts).



> This is a gift for noir-wing on Tumblr for the Voltron Rarepair Exchange! The prompt was Allurance and "AUs & cute flirting." I hope I did it justice!

“Hey, hey, Hunk! My man!”

Hunk looked up from cleaning his grill as his buddy Lance bounded up to him.

“Did you see? The new summer lifeguards arrived this morning!”

Hunk rolled his eyes fondly and returned to his task. “Uh-huh. Let me guess, you want to go check them out.”

Lance grinned and slung his arm around Hunk’s shoulders. Hunk easily adjusted to his weight. “You know me too well.”

“And do I need to remind you,” Hunk said, poking the end of the brush he was using for his grill into Lance’s side, eliciting a satisfying yelp and a glare from his best friend, “that we’re supposed to be working? Lunchtime rush is starting soon for me, and you have some customers it looks like.”

Hunk nodded in the direction of Lance’s family’s surf shack further along the beach.

“Urgh fine,” Lance groaned, peeling himself away from Hunk, “but promise me, as soon as we’re done this afternoon we go say hi to the new lifeguards. After all,” Lance raked his hand back through his hair and posed, “I’m sure they’ll all jump at the chance to get a tour of the beach from the handsomest-slash-best surfer around, aka me.”

“I’m sure they will. In the meantime,” Hunk flicked Lance lightly on the ear to bring him back to Earth, “Mr. Handsomest-Slash-Best surfer around is going to have some angry customers to deal with if he doesn’t hurry back.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m going. Later man!”

Hunk waved him off and Lance trotted down the beach toward his shack, waving to Pidge on the way past her Marine Life Discovery tent.

“You and Hunk are planning to go say hi to the summer lifeguards later, aren’t you?” Pidge called after him. “I want in; wouldn’t want to miss a chance to see you make a fool of yourself!”

Lance flipped her the bird over his shoulder and didn’t even slow down; her cackle followed him all the way back to his shack.

As he approached the small group of people gathered outside the closed door he plastered his trademark winning smile on his face and easily slipped into work mode.

“Hello folks! Show of hands, who has surfed before and who is a total beginner? Oh wow, all beginners then? Cool! My name is Lance and I’ll be your instructor today. Let me just open up the shack and then I’ll explain the deals we have.”

After that it was easy to lose himself in his work. It was the first real day of tourist season, and he was kept busy all day. His older sister joined him at lunchtime, giving him a chance to run over to Hunk’s stall for some food, and she stayed after to help him manage the afternoon rush. She handled rentals while he gave lessons, and by the time the sun was falling toward the horizon and the beach started emptying out his smile had grown more tired but also more satisfied.

Leaning back with his elbows against the surf shack’s counter while his sister closed up shop for the evening, Lance surveyed the beach, watching as families and couples and groups of friends packed up their parasols and towels and headed back to the parking lots.

“Man, I love summer.”

Behind him, his sister snorted. “Is it really summer you love, or just the beach babes that come with summer.”

Lance spluttered indignantly and turned to shoot her his most haughty look. “No, I actually meant I love summer. The beach fills up with people, the atmosphere is great. It’s bright and hot out, the ocean is blue, I get to spend all day outside working on my tan, and also teaching people how to surf. Did you see that one little girl? She was so scared at first but by the end she was a mega pro!”

At the unimpressed expression on his sister’s face he groaned and added: “Okay, yes, I admit it. I also like the beach babes.”

“There’s my Lance,” she teased. “Speaking of which, aren’t you planning to go say hi to the new lifeguards?”

“How did you know? I’m pretty sure I didn’t tell you.”

“Lance, please, I know you. You do this every year.”

Laughing sheepishly, Lance brought his hand up to rub at the back of his head. “I’m that predictable, huh.”

“You are. Now go, you idiot, I’ll finish up here.”

“Really? Thank you Mari, you’re the best!” He leaned in to kiss her on the cheek and she waved him off, laughing.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But you owe me!”

Lance gave her a thumbs up over his shoulder as he sprinted away, and he grinned to himself as he imagined her rolling her eyes at him.

He stopped first at Pidge’s tent where she was just finishing packing up her posters and diagrams detailing various marine animals and their habitats and roles in the ecosystem. At some point during the day Pidge had managed to catch a sunburn over the bridge of her nose, despite the wide brimmed hat firmly planted on her head. Why someone with such fair skin and a professed hatred of children chose to run a discovery tent every summer whose target audience was mainly children Lance had never figured out, but he had to admit Pidge was good at her job. Her passion for marine biology was only rivaled by her passion for robotics, of which she was the club president at their university.

He heard Hunk call his name from further up the beach and popped his head out of Pidge’s tent to wave him over.

“We’re here man! Pidge is just finishing putting away her science shit.”

That earned him a smack on the arm from a handful of rolled up “science shit” and a warning glare from Pidge. He just grinned back.

A few minutes later the discovery tent was all packed up for the night and the three friends were making their way across the beach to the lifeguard’s hut. They could see people coming out of the hut and gathering in groups at the bottom of the stairs, illuminated by the dying sun and the light spilling from the hut’s open door.

Lance grabbed Hunk’s arm and Pidge’s shoulder and pulled them forward eagerly. “Hurry up guys, looks like they just finished their evening meeting. We don’t want to miss them.”

Behind his back, Pidge and Hunk rolled their eyes at each other, but they obligingly sped up for their friend.

He slowed down as he drew near the guard hut, taking a moment to look over the gathered people. Some he recognized from previous years—he smiled fondly when he spotted Luci, Flora and Patty. He and Patty had had a thing a couple summers ago; it had been fun but not meant to last. They had parted on friendly terms at the end of the summer and last he’d heard she was dating Luci and Flora.

Other people were completely new to him. He let his eyes roam over the group a little more, but his attention was snagged by a small group exiting the hut. Keith, one of the head lifeguards, emerged first, and Lance felt his jaw tighten. He didn’t like Keith, though if he was being honest with himself he’d have to admit he didn’t rightly know where the animosity came from. He was sure it was Keith’s fault though. Whatever the case, Keith and Lance’s rivalry was well known among the people who worked on the beach, with more than one of their competitions ending with them being scolded by a merchant or lifeguard.

Lance scoffed and was about to look away when he caught sight of the two people leaving the hut behind Keith. One of them was the other head lifeguard, Shiro, but beside him was a woman Lance had never seen before.  Her long white hair was tied up in a high ponytail, but even so it still reached halfway down her back. She was wearing a pair of shorts and the standard blue lifeguard jacket over her bathing suit. She and Shiro were talking animatedly as they paused on the hut’s porch, joining Keith who was obviously standing there waiting for Shiro to finish.

Lance couldn’t help but let out a low whistle under his breath. “Hellooo, beautiful.”

Next to him Pidge and Hunk elbowed each other and snickered before threading their arms through Lance’s and dragging him closer to the group.

Up on the porch the girl had just finished talking to Shiro and she made her way down the stairs to join her friends--a tall, thin girl with twin blond braids and a stocky girl with short dark hair. As if that was a sort of signal, the gathered lifeguards quieted down and turned their attention up to Shiro and Keith on the porch.

“Good job today everyone,” Shiro began. “Once again, to those of you who are newcomers, welcome, I’m sure we’ll have a great summer together. After this you’re free for the evening, so go have fun. Just remember, those of you who are on duty tomorrow morning, you have to be here at 8:30 sharp.”

At the chorus of groans that rose from the assembled crowd, Shiro’s smile turned wolfish. He started to turn away, clearly intending to dismiss the group, when Keith nudged him and nodded in Lance, Hunk and Pidge’s direction.

“Oh, hey guys!” Shiro called to them, waving them over. He turned to the lifeguards, calling them back to order. “Hey everyone, since they’re here anyway, I’d like you to meet some of our friends who’ll be working on the beach alongside us. Everyone, meet Hunk, Pidge, and Lance. Hunk runs the best food stall on the entire beach. Seriously, you need to eat lunch at his place at least once this summer, I order you to. He’s also the guy you want to talk to if your car ever breaks down. He’ll fix it up and have it running even better than it did before.”

“Aw, shucks man,” interjected Hunk, cheeks reddening. “Sal’s place is good too. He does excellent shakes.”

“That’s the _only_ thing he knows how to do,” muttered Lance. Hunk elbowed him.

Shiro continued as though he hadn’t been interrupted. “Pidge is our resident marine animal expert. She runs the discovery tent, and you’ll probably see her sometimes in the shallows by the rocks leading one of her workshops. She also monitors the water to make sure it’s clean and safe enough for people to swim in, and she’s the person you want to call if you find an animal stranded on the beach.”

“And dead animals too,” added Pidge. “I know how to dispose of carcasses.”

Hunk groaned. “You have _got_ to realize how creepy that sounds.”

Pidge waggled her eyebrows at him. Before they could say anything else Shiro cleared his throat. “Right. Thank you, Pidge. And last but certainly not least, there’s Lance, our resident surf instructor.”

Lance preened as everyone’s attention shifted to him, smiling and waving at them. He winked at the pretty lifeguard from earlier; she rolled her eyes and propped a hand on her hip, meeting his gaze squarely with a mix of exasperation and amusement. Her friend next to her with the blond braids looked between her and Lance, eyes narrowed.

Shiro continued with his introduction, oblivious to the silent exchange. “If you haven’t already seen him today you’ll definitely see him in the next few days doing his classes. He also knows this ocean and its tricks better than anyone and has rescue and first aid training. In a crisis he’s a good person to have with you. Alright, dismissed!”

Shiro and Keith turned and went back into the guard hut, closing the door behind them. The gathered lifeguards started breaking up into smaller groups. Some people headed toward the parking lot, no doubt heading into town for supper and whatever else they had planned for the evening. Others stayed and chatted a bit with Hunk and Pidge, introducing themselves and asking about day to day life on the beach.

Lance, meanwhile, had eyes only for the pretty lifeguard. He pushed through the crowd, absently responding when people said hi, attention on the girl and her two friends chatting amongst themselves. He stopped just on the outskirt of their little group and cleared his throat, butterflies fluttering in the pit of his stomach.

“Hi, I’m Lance.”

The three stopped talking and turned towards him. He had to fight off the urge to hunch his shoulders under the force of their triple gazes. Instead he drew himself up, squared his shoulders, and plastered a smile on his face as he held out his hand to them. “But of course you already knew that, what with Shiro’s introduction.”

The stocky brown-haired one was the first to shake his hand, her smile warm and open. “Yes, nice to meet you, Lance. It’s good to know someone else who has rescue training in case of emergency. I’m Shay.”

“Nice to meet you Shay. And thank you.”

Next was the tall blonde with the braids. Her smile was dazzling but her eyes were sharp on Lance’s face, her handshake just a smidge too long. “I’m Nyma, it’s a pleasure.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” said Lance, pulling his hand back.

Finally he turned to the third girl, the one with the white ponytail and the face that had caught Lance’s attention immediately. Her gaze was level and her smile was neutral as she took Lance’s hand. “I’m Allura, nice to meet you.”

Lance turned his charm up to eleven, pouring everything he had into a brilliant smile for her. “Allura? What a pretty name, it sounds like it belongs to a princess. I feel like I should bow.”

She snorted, and Lance mentally high fived himself at succeeding in getting a reaction from her.

“Please don’t.”

He felt more than heard Pidge and Hunk come up behind him, and a moment later he yelped as Pidge jabbed him in the side, hard.

“Is he making an ass of himself already? I’m Pidge by the way, and this here is Hunk.” She reached up and hooked an arm around the back of Lance’s neck, casually pulling him down into a headlock. “I see you’ve met Lance. Please don’t hesitate to poke holes in his ego every now and then, otherwise it gets too big.”

The three girls giggled and Lance squawked, thrashing wildly in Pidge’s grip to get free. She relented and let go of him, and when he straightened he caught Allura’s eye. The corners of her eyes were crinkled from mirth and she was hiding a grin behind her hand. Lance’s face heated up in response.

Introductions were quickly made all around, and Lance didn’t miss the way Hunk stammered when he met Shay and fumbled his handshake.

“So,” Lance started, having recovered from the indignity of Pidge’s headlock, “do you girls have any plans tonight?”

The three looked at each other, and it seemed like a silent conversation passed between them.

“Well,” said Nyma, “we were planning to go out for food, but we don’t really know the places around here.”

Lance saw his opening and he pounced on it. “Oh we know all the best places around here. Hunk especially, he’s the expert. Aren’t you Hunk. Hunk?”

Hunk started, broken out of his little staring competition with Shay by Lance’s voice. “Huh? Oh yeah, totally. I can point you in the right direction.”

“Or you guys could join us,” said Allura, her eyes on Hunk and Shay and a little smile playing at the corner of her mouth. “After all food is best when it’s shared.”

Lance stared wide-eyed at Allura. “Well heck, that’s the quickest someone has ever asked me to dinner.”

“Don’t get any ideas, surfer boy,” said Allura sweetly, reaching out to flick him on the shoulder, “I only offered because Nyma is terrible with directions and we’d probably get lost on the way to the restaurant if Hunk didn’t come show us the way.”

Lance looked down at the place where she had touched him and then up into her face, a sly smile spreading over his lips. “Right, because this is totally only about Hunk.”

She drew herself up and looked down her nose at him haughtily. “Exactly.”

Next to Allura, Nyma cleared her throat. “Well, as amusing as this is to watch, I really am hungry. So if we could get a move on?”

Hunk snapped to attention at the mention of food and took charge of the situation. “Right, food. Do you all like seafood? Yes? Excellent, I know a great place not too far from here, we can walk. They also have the best sangria in town. Follow me.”

Hunk headed off and the others followed. Shay trotted up to walk next to him and Hunk’s cheeks darkened as she engaged him in conversation. Lance expertly slotted himself in next to Allura, making it seem for all the world like he had just happened to end up there. Pidge and Nyma brought up the rear; Lance thought he heard them talking about robotics. So they had a shared interest. Good.

“So Allura, tell me,” Lance started, pushing his hands into his pockets and focusing his attention back on her, “where are you from, and what brings you to our humble beach?”

Allura gave him a look from the corner of her eye, but apparently deemed the question innocent enough. She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear before starting. “I’m originally from Altea Beach.”

That got Lance’s attention. He stopped short in the middle of the sidewalk, nearly causing Pidge to walk right into him. She frowned at him but chose not to say anything for once. Lance caught himself and trotted to catch up to Allura, who hadn’t stopped walking. She was watching him carefully from the corner of her eye, gauging his reaction.

“Wait you mean, like, _the_ Altea Beach? The one that—“

“That had the toxic chemical spill, yes.”

She seemed reluctant to elaborate further, but Lance never had been good at keeping his mouth shut.

“Damn. That’s—wow. I remember hearing about that on the news. The pictures from the site were awful.”

Allura nodded, shifting her gaze away to stare into the distance. “That disaster really did a number on the community. The environment was poisoned, people were getting sick, even dying. Tourism completely stopped, and people lost their livelihoods. A lot of people left, myself included. Altea Beach is practically a ghost town now.”

“Holy crap I had no idea.” Lance reached out to her, intending to put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m so sor—“

“Please stop right there,” interrupted Allura, her shoulders tensing. Lance retracted his hand. “I do not want your pity, I was merely answering your question. I’m not even sure why I told you that, it’s not something I usually tell people I’ve just met.” She gave him a small, sad smile. “Guess you’re just easy to talk to. As for your other question, I’m here because this is where my uncle lives. I live with him in the summers when I’m not away at school.”

“Your uncle?” Lance asked before he could stop himself. “What about your parents?”

Allura’s jaw snapped shut, and Lance realized with an awful sinking feeling he had gone too far.

“Aw crap, I’m sorry. It’s not my business, I shouldn’t have asked.”

Allura’s posture relaxed slightly. “Thank you. I’d rather not talk about it, at least not right now. Do you mind if we change the subject now?”

“Of course.” Lance rubbed his chin, considering. “From the sounds of it you’ve been living with your uncle a while, how come I’ve never seen you on the beach before now?”

“Well I only just passed my certification for guarding beaches this year. Before that I worked at pools. But I assure you, I’ve come to the beach before. You must’ve not been paying attention.”

“What? No way. I’m sure I would have remembered someone like you. You stand out too much.”

“Do I now? I hope you mean that as a compliment.”

“Wha—of course it’s a compliment! It means you’re striking, one-of-a-kind, unforgettable!”

She laughed and bumped his shoulder with hers. “Ease off there Casanova, you’re coming on a little strong.”

“Oh, haha, sorry.” Lance nervously rubbed at the back of his neck. “I’m just surprised that you’ve been living in this city for a while, even coming to the beach, and I’ve never seen you before. I remember everyone who comes to the beach.”

“Obviously not everyone,” she teased. “You must not be as good as you think you are then.”

Lance drew himself up, mock indignant. “How _dare_ you insinuate such a thing! I’ll have you know I was voted Lion Beach’s most eligible bachelor two years running.”

“Well I pity all the girls in this town, if _you’re_ what’s considered a most eligible bachelor around here.”

Pidge’s hoot from behind him made Lance jump. “Oohhh Allura deals a critical hit! Get rekt Lance.”

From in front of him Hunk looked back at Allura over his shoulder, appraising. “I like this girl.”

“Man, shut up.”

Lance reached back and shoved Pidge’s face away. “And you! I don’t want to hear it from someone who’s not even far enough off the ground to see over the counter at the bank.”

Pidge narrowed her eyes. “Resorting to insulting my height, huh? That means you’re all out of ammo.”

“Well, to be fair,” Allura interjected, trying to diffuse the situation, “I haven’t come to the beach often. I’m really not surprised our paths haven’t crossed.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, hunching her shoulders a little. “You see, for a long time I… didn’t want to go near the beach.”

“Because of what happened at Altea?” Lance asked gently.

Allura nodded. This time, when Lance reached out to pat her shoulder, she let him. Before he could come up with something appropriate to say she drew a deep breath and straightened up again. Lance let his arm fall back to his side.

“But enough of that gloomy stuff,” she said. “What about you? I assume you’ve lived here all your life?”

“Oh, yeah! For as long as I can remember. Actually, one of my first memories is of riding the waves with my dad on his surfboard.”

That brought a small smile to Allura’s face, and if there was a hint of sadness tucked away in the corner of it Lance was wise enough not to point it out.

“Somehow that does not surprise me one bit. So your whole family are surfers?”

They continued like that, going back and forth, learning about each other. Lance learned that Allura’s favourite colour was pink, that she had four pet mice, that she was studying environmental science, that she loved movie music but hated video game soundtracks, that she was an avid hiker but couldn’t stand people who didn’t wear the appropriate gear (“sandals are _so_ acceptable hiking shoes, Allura, I hike in them all the time!” “Well either you’re in the process of destroying your feet and legs or what you’re doing isn’t _proper_ hiking, because you _cannot_ do it in sandals” “Oh my gosh you’re a hiking snob!” “Am not” “Are too”).

In return he told her about his family, about all the secret coves along the cliffs that were perfect for picnics, about which merchants on the beach were just overpriced tourist traps and which ones were worth checking out, about his interest in knitting (“You knit?!” “Yeah, I do? What of it.” “Oh I didn’t mean it like that. I’m impressed actually; my grandmother used to knit and she tried to teach me but I could never get the hang of it. I think I still have some of her patterns at Uncle Coran’s place, come to think of it” “Really? Could I see them? I mean… if you don’t mind” “Sure, I guess? No one’s using them. I’d have to dig them out though. I’ll bring them by the surf shack sometime”).

They breezed through supper, sometimes joining the others’ conversation, but mostly just wrapped up in their own. At one point Lance caught Nyma giving Allura a very knowing look, which she responded to with a shove and a muttered “shut up.” Lance hid his smile in his glass of sangria.

Lance might have felt a little bad for ignoring the others in favour of Allura so much, but the sight of Hunk just as engrossed in conversation with Shay as he was with Allura put that feeling to rest. He was still a little guilty about ditching Pidge though, and told her as much when he ran into her coming out of the washroom. He needn’t have worried.

“Oh no it’s cool man! Anyway Nyma is, like, super cool. Did you know she’s a gamer too? She and her roommate Rolo actually travel all over the country to go to competitions!”

Several hours later, the six of them were still in the restaurant. Their food had long since been paid for and their table cleared, but they were allowed to stay because Hunk was friends with the owner. Allura pulled out her phone, intending to show Lance a photo of her mice, but her smile turned to a grimace when she caught sight of the clock on her lock screen.

“Oh quiznak, is that really the time?”

Immediately five other phones were pulled out and the realization of how late it was was met with curse words of varying severity. Lance eyed the time on his phone nonchalantly. Only 12:40; he had been out much later than this before. He turned back to Allura, who was busy gathering her purse and zipping up her jacket, looking dismayed.

“What, do you have a curfew or something?”

“No,” she replied, standing up. He automatically stood up too. “I just kind of promised my uncle I’d be home by 1:00, and if I want to make it I need to leave right now. It’s not like I’ll be in _trouble_ if I come back later, I just like keeping my word, you know?”

“It’s cool, I get it.”

Lance waved goodbye to his friends and the other two girls, wishing them a good rest of the night and promising to see them tomorrow, and was halfway to the door before he realized that Allura hadn’t moved. In fact she was watching him with an odd expression on her face.

“What are you doing, Lance?”

He looked around himself, as though expecting someone else to respond, and then pointed to his own chest, eyebrows raised. “What am _I_ doing? Isn’t it obvious? I’m walking you home of course.”

She frowned. “Isn’t that a bit old fashioned? I’m fine on my own, really. You don’t have to do this.”

Their friends were watching the exchange with various expressions of amusement. Nyma even hid a snicker behind her hand.

“I know I don’t have to,” said Lance, “but I would like to, regardless of how old fashioned it may be.”

She hesitated for a second longer, but at Shay’s encouraging shooing motion she relented and moved up alongside Lance.

“Thanks, I guess.”

He beamed, and lightly touched his hand to her back to guide her to the door. “It’s absolutely my pleasure, Princess.”

She wrinkled her nose a little at the name but said nothing. Lance counted that as a win.

When they stepped out into the cool night air she shivered and moved a little closer to him, tucking her arms around her. In response he put his arm around her shoulders and rubbed her arm a little, trying to work some heat into it.

They walked in amicable silence, content to just enjoy each other’s company. Occasionally Allura pointed out a constellation overhead, and Lance lost himself in the quiet murmur of her voice in the night explaining what each one meant. It was almost magical, and he found himself wishing it would never end. He had been drawn to her pretty face and attractive body, and over the course of the evening he had also found himself drawn to her razor-sharp wit and humour, her intellect and her passion and the way she looked at him like she could see right through him.

He tuned back in when he realized she was no longer talking about the constellations.

“My father always used to tease me that I was too serious for my own good. ‘Allura,’ he used to say, ‘there’s more to life than just studying and working. Go out, enjoy life while you’re still young.’ That coming from a man who was almost always working, hah.” Allura snorted.

“That sounds like a pretty solid philosophy to me,” said Lance, carefully.

“It probably is, I just never paid attention. I probably should have.”

She came to a stop, slipping out from under his arm and turning to face him on the sidewalk. Her face was a complicated mess of emotions, thrown into sharp relief by the combined light of the streetlamps and the moon overhead. There was nostalgia in her eyes, and some regret, but a small, happy smile graced her lips. Lance kept his mouth shut, waiting for her to finish.

“I think he would have liked you.”

Lance swallowed tightly, the full significance of what Allura had just said hitting him full force. “I can only hope so.”

He placed a gentle palm on her upper arm, and she reached up in response and squeezed his forearm.

“I hardly ever do what I did tonight. Nyma and Shay can attest; they practically have to drag me out whenever they want to do something. But I had a lot of fun. I’m really glad I came.”

“I had a lot of fun too, despite the fact you totally crushed my ego.” Lance brought his other hand to his forehead dramatically. “I don’t know if I’ll ever recover.”

She laughed, the sound crisp in the night air, and patted his forearm. “Well, I was merely following Pidge’s advice.”

“Let me warn you right now, Pidge’s advice is generally _not_ the kind you want to follow.”

Her eyes sparkled with mirth. “I’ll take that into consideration.”

Allura took a half step back and turned toward the house they had stopped in front of, and Lance let his arm fall back to his side.

“Well,” she said, pointing at the house. “This is me.”

“So it would seem.” He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets to keep from trying to reach out to her again.

“You’ll be ok getting back to your own home from here?”

“Pshh, Princess, I have lived in this town my entire life. I know my way everywhere.”

“Ok, good.”

She looked at him; he looked back. The moment was charged, the silence pregnant with possibilities. He wanted to kiss her, but he didn’t want to overstep any bounds. They had been flirting all evening, sure, but it wasn’t his place to assume it meant anything.

When she leaned in, his breath caught in his chest, his heart fluttered. He was frozen, rooted to the spot. She pressed her lips to his cheek, and they felt like sunlight and honey and rose petals against his skin.

She stepped back and met his gaze, smiling at the look on his face.

“Thank you for tonight, Lance.”

“Uh…” he said, eloquently.

She giggled softly, and turned toward the gate of her uncle’s house.

“Good night, Lance. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She was halfway to the house by the time he found his voice.

“Good night, Princess!”

She didn’t turn around, but she didn’t have to for Lance to know exactly what kind of smile she had on. She waved at him over her shoulder and disappeared into the house, leaving Lance giddy and warm inside.

Tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [Tumblr](http://ace-pidge.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
